Prevent Blindness America FY 2013 Asks
Prevent Blindness America Respectfully Calls Upon Congress to Support Programs That Prevent Blindness and Preserve Sight.
Specifically, Prevent Blindness America urges Representatives and Senators in the 2nd Session of the 112th Congress (2012) to:
- Provide at least $1 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 to maintain vision and eye health efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adequate FY 2013 resources will allow the CDC to continue to address the growing public health threat of preventable chronic eye disease and vision loss among at-risk and underserved populations through increased coordination and integration of vision and eye health at state and local health departments, and through community health centers and rural services.
- Support the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s (MCHB) National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health (the Center) in developing a public health infrastructure to promote and ensure a continuum of vision and eye health care for children. The Center focuses its efforts on: the development of best practices and guidelines for ensuring access to comprehensive eye care for children, including, but not limited to, early detection; supporting state-based efforts to increase access to – and quality of – children’s vision and eye health care; and establishing and advancing uniform mechanisms for data collection and reporting of children’s vision and eye health services.
- Provide at least $645 million in FY 2013 to sustain programs under the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant. The MCH Block Grant enables states to expand critical health care services to millions of pregnant women, infants and children, including those with special health care needs. In addition to direct services, the MCH Block Grant supports vital programs, preventive and systems building services needed to promote optimal health.
- Provide $730 million to the National Eye Institute (NEI) in order to bolster efforts to identify the underlying causes of eye disease and vision loss, improve early detection and diagnosis, and advance prevention and treatment efforts.
- Join the Congressional Vision Caucus (CVC). This caucus is a bipartisan, bicameral group of Members of Congress dedicated to strengthening and stimulating a national dialogue on the importance of vision health. The CVC seeks to achieve its goals through Congressional briefings, Dear Colleague letters, and press conferences. The CVC is co-chaired by Representatives Gene Green (D-TX), David Price (D-NC), Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).